Doll #8 - Pink Possum

I thought this doll looked a little bit like a possum.

 

While it looks like her head and body are from different fabrics, they actually came from the same blouse, with some judicious cutting.

 

Here's a piece left from the original blouse.  Not something I would have worn myself.  :o)

 

I love these socks!  They're from the Wal-Mart infant department.

 

The hair is crocheted yarn, and the eyes are buttons.  Her legs are jointed, and I used buttons for attaching her legs and arms. 

Doll #7 - The Patriot

I nicknamed this doll "The Patriot" for obvious reasons.  This is how he looks on one side.

 

And this is how he looks on the other side.

 

The fabric for this doll came from this top that I found at the thrift shop.  I made the doll from fabric taken from the back of this shirt.  I may get another doll out of this front piece, though there are three large pockets that would limit my cutting area. 

 

Here's a head-on view.  I decided not to add eyes since two stars, totally by chance, fell into appropriate spots.

 

This picture shows the joint I sewed into the leg so that the doll would be able to sit with its legs extended out in front.  My technique is to sew the leg, stuff it up to where I want the joint, sew back and forth across the leg, and then finish the stuffing.  If you look closely, you can see the button I used when I attached the leg to the body.

 

I planned it so that I'd have the red & white stripes fall on the outside of each leg.

 

Portrait shot.  :o)

 

And, lastly, the requisite rocking chair shot....

 

Dolls #5 and #6

This doll's body is a velveteen fabric, and the arms and legs are cotton batik.

 

The hair is a bright, pink yarn that I crocheted.  The eyes are buttons, and you can see the buttons used for attaching the arms and legs.

 

Close-up. 

 

Now they all want to do "Power to the Plushies"!

 

Yes, this one too....

 

This doll's body is a batik flannel - soft to the touch.  The legs and arms are batik cotton, and the feet are ultrasuede.

 

After the fact, I'm not happy with the eyes on either of these dolls.  I've decided that eyes that are pale, or even just pale in the center, give the dolls a zombie look.  Something to keep in mind for future dolls!

Doll #4

The fabrics for this doll are cotton batiks from my fabric stash.

 

I made the feet to match the body fabric.

 

I used a fuzzy blue/green yarn to crochet the hair.  The eyes are pom-poms.  After I sewed them to the head, I used a black magic marker to paint in the pupils.  Do you see the button on his shoulder?

 

I have a collection of long needles used for sewing dolls.  To attach the arms and legs, I used embroidery floss and one of the long needles.  I'd sew through the body, through the arm, through a button hole, then back through the other button hole and pass through the arm, the body, the other arm, and the other button, and back again - many times.  I wanted to make sure the arms and legs were never coming off!  The interesting thing is that I found it meant that I could change the position of the arms and legs.  This fellow looks like he's raising a fist in the air.  I gave him a little history lesson on the 60's.  His motto?  Power to the Plushies!!

 

 

Doll #3

This is Gaudy Gilda.  She was the third doll I made, and the first time I tried a face.

 

She was also the last time I tried a face!  Way too challenging...

 

Here she is in the early stages of construction.  I had her on my work table.  I walked out of the room, and when I came back in and saw her, my first thought was "corpse."  My husband walked in and said, "NCIS - Ducky's autopsy room."  Hmm.

 

Gilda came together with pink hair and a red boa.  The boa is a collar I cut off from a thrift shop blouse.  The boa is permanently sewn on.

 

I was happy with the hair - it's pink yarn that I crocheted.  Again, I had sewn a running stitch around her head, and used it to hook on the "hair" as I crocheted.  NOTHING would get the hair back off this doll!

 

Gilda told me she wanted a heart.  I had this piece I'd made, thinking it would be a pendant for a necklace, and I decided to use it for Gilda's heart.  The purple part is polymer clay, the sparkles on the heart are sparkly nail polish.  I added the beads and findings.

 

While Gilda sits fine on a flat surface, some knee joints would have been in order if I'd known she'd like sitting in a rocking chair!  Her body, head, arms and legs are made from batik cottons.  So far she's generated mostly negative response.  I do hope she'll find someone to love her!!

 

Doll #2

 

This was my second doll, and I named him Devlin Doolittle.  Because of the way I attached his legs (learning process...) his legs stick out at weird angles, and it was hard to get him to sit at all.  Since he could do very little, I chose Doolittle for his name.

 

 

I have a set of long needles used for cloth dolls.  I attached the legs by sewing back and forth through the doll and through the legs.  You can see why the legs stuck out to the sides of his body, rather than straight ahead.  My husband, seeing this, suggested "joints" in the legs, and I did that in future dolls.

 

 

Devlin's "hair" is a piece of trim that I stitched onto his head.  His head and body are a batik flannel that's really soft to the touch.  The arms and legs are a cotton batik that coordinated beautifully with the flannel.

 

 

Devlin is wearing a Disney bowtie that I found in the trim section at Wal-Mart.  His eyes are from my button collection.

 

 

The socks are from the infant department at Wal-Mart.  I bought several pairs of socks and it was tempting to make dolls based on the socks! 

 

 

Devlin Doolittle gives new meaning to the term "pigeon-toed"!!

 

Doll #1

 

This was the first doll I made.  The head reminded me of a seahorse, so I decided to make "fins" instead of arms.

 

 

Here's what he looks like laying down.  I was designing these dolls as I went along, so I'd modify things in later dolls if I wasn't totally pleased with something.  In this case, I thought the feet were too big, as well as too curvy.

 

  

The hair is silver yarn.  I ran a long running stitch along the top and back of the head.  I crocheted the hair, catching my crochet work on the running stitches, as I progressed.  In other words, the hair is firmly attached!

 

  

The polka dot fabric is from a thrift shop t-shirt, and the blue stripe fabric was from my stash.  I liked the way the stripes met at his tummy seam.  

 

Making Dolls

 

 

 

This past month has been consumed with doll-making.

 

Our local community kitchen, Hope Mission, will be involved in a fundraiser on September 8th.  I'm always looking for motivation for doing my art work, and I decided to make dolls for the fundraiser.

 

 

 

 

In the past, I've often thought about doll-making, but never got going with it.  This time I decided I would make ten dolls.  If you're a counter, you'll notice that there are only nine in the picture.  There is a tenth doll, but I got too attached to it and I'm keeping that one!

 

 

 

I have a large stash of fabrics from my quilting days, and drawers of yarns, laces, buttons, and other embellishments.  It meant I didn't need to do a whole lot of shopping, but I will admit to a couple of trips to local thrift shops for interesting clothing....

 



 

I'll be delivering the dolls to Hope Mission on Tuesday.  Those that don't sell at the fundraiser will be donated to Domestic Violence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you may have noticed, only one of the dolls looks like a "person."  I named her Gilda (actually, Gaudy Gilda), and she's been appointed den mother for the other creatures.  Gilda was the third doll I made, and doing the face was too stressful, so I went back to "critters" she was finished.  Photos and techniques on the individual dolls will follow in my next blog posts.